Description

1874 $10 Bickford Ten Dollar, Judd-1373, Pollock-1518, R.8, PR65
Deep Cameo PCGS. The Bickford pattern ten dollar gold piece,
known to pattern collectors as Judd-1373, is one of the most
celebrated issues in the U.S. pattern series. Only two examples are
known, placing the issue at the pinnacle of rarity. Both known
examples have been meticulously preserved, and their size,
attractive design, and majestic gold composition combine to make
them breathtakingly beautiful numismatic patterns. The rich and
mysterious history shared by these pieces adds to their
irresistible appeal.

The Design

On the obverse, a fresh-faced, youthful Liberty faces left, with
her hair tied back and wearing a diadem, ornamented with six stars,
reading LIBERTY. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA rings the rim; the date
1874 is below. Liberty has an olive wreath tied around her neck. On
the reverse a rope design forms six separate cartouches around the
rim. In the center is the Latin word UBIQUE "everywhere," with
16.72 GRAMS 900 FINE in three lines. In the cartouches are the
coin's exchange values in various international currencies: DOLLARS
10; STERLING 2.1.1; MARKEN 41.99; KRONEN 37.31; GULDEN 20.73;
FRANCS 51.81. Struck in gold, with a reeded edge. The diameter is
the same as a twenty dollar, but the planchet is thinner.

Bickford's Proposal

Dana Bickford's proposal for an international coinage captured the
public's attention in the mid-1870s. The following article
explaining the situation was originally published in The Coin
and Stamp Journal in Kansas City, Missouri (February 1876
issue). It has been reprinted in several sources since that
time:

"The leading journals throughout this country and
Europe are discussing the necessity for an 'international coin,'
having been aroused to its importance by a resolution offered in
the Senate by Senator Sherman. But Mr. Sherman's plan will meet
with the same difficulty that our government has contended with for
years, viz., to obtain a coin having a relation of value to the
present coins of other nations, without having their denominational
value and design changed. This difficulty has been overcome, and to
Mr. Dana Bickford, of New York City, the original inventor of the
automatic knitting machines, belongs the honor.
"Mr. Bickford, while traveling in Europe, experienced the
difficulties and inconveniences that European travelers are
subjected to, of having to provide money current in each country he
visited, and at times ignorant of its value in our money. Having
upon one occasion been particularly annoyed, he determined, if
possible, to overcome the difficulty, and being a man of great
inventive capacity, was not long in arriving at his present plan,
and designed a coin that shows on its face its value in our money
and that of the principal commercial nations of the world.
"The United States and foreign governments have endeavored for
years, and spent thousands of dollars, to perfect a system of
'international coinage,' but have been unable to get a coin that
would prove acceptable to the principal nations, as each one has a
peculiar design for its coin, which it is unwilling to change
entirely. With Mr. Bickford's coin this difficulty is removed, as
each government can fully display its design and value on one side,
and on the other show the value of the coin in the currencies of
the different nations, also the fineness of the metal and number of
grammes without altering their values, and but slightly changing
designs.
"Shortly after Mr. Bickford returned from Europe he called on Dr.
Henry R. Linderman, the director of the Mint, and submitted to him
his design for an international coin. After carefully examining it
the director was so impressed with its importance, and the great
saving the adoption of such a coin would be to our government, that
with his usual foresight and penetration he at once ordered sample
coins struck off at the Philadelphia Mint, which proved entirely
satisfactory and practical. It is not generally known that the
annual expense to our government for recoinage and waste on coin
entering this country from abroad is half a million dollars, and
the same waste and expense is incurred by foreign
governments."

Unfortunately, Bickford's idea was ahead of its time, and more than
a century would pass before his dream was at least partially
realized by the euro.

An Unknown Rarity

The Bickford pattern ten dollar gold pieces, Judd-1373, were not
known to numismatists of the 19th century. The design was struck in
copper, aluminum, and nickel compositions, as well as gold, with
both plain and reeded edges. Examples of the design in copper
appeared in various auction catalogs of the period, but even the
greatest pattern collections of the era did not include an example
of Judd-1373. Robert Coulton Davis published the first important
work on U.S. pattern coins in the Coin Collector's Journal
in 1885, where he described both plain and reeded edge varieties of
the design in copper, but he was unaware of the strikings in other
metals.
The issue remained closeted in the early 20th century. A five-page
article was published in the Numismatist in July 1906 that
described the Bickford patterns in copper, but made no mention of
the gold striking. Numismatists remained unaware of the existence
of these patterns until the publication of United States
Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces, by Edgar Adams and
William Woodin in 1913. Listed as number 1366 in that reference,
the authors revealed the following information about the gold
Bickford pattern eagles for the first time:

"Gold. Reeded Edge. (Only two specimens known in this
metal, one of which is in the collection of W.W.C. Wilson of
Montreal, Canada, and the other is owned by William H. Woodin of
New York City.)"

Pattern collectors were amazed to learn of the existence of the
familiar Bickford patterns in a precious metal variant, as the
copper pieces had been well known since their date of striking. The
dramatic tale of their discovery is still being pieced together
today. In his United States Gold Patterns (1975) David Akers
offers two possible sources for the new patterns. The first
scenario involves the activities of William Idler, an old-time coin
dealer with particularly good connections at the Mint. Idler's
collection was being marketed by his son-in-law, John W. Haseltine,
at the time. Alternatively, Akers suggests the coins may have been
part of the hoard of patterns William Woodin received in the famous
exchange for the gold half union patterns.

Haseltine and Idler

William Idler was a Philadelphia coin dealer of the 1860s who
enjoyed a special relationship with the staff and officials of the
Mint. He used his contacts to secure examples of many pattern
delicacies and restrikes that were not available to other
numismatists. His prize possession was a Class Three 1804 dollar
that he used to make electrotypes for favored clients. When he died
in 1901, his holdings and numismatic contacts passed to his
son-in-law and fellow coin dealer, Captain John W. Haseltine.
Haseltine developed his Mint connections to an even greater degree
than Idler. He became the Mint's marketing pipeline for all the
1801, 1802, and 1803 proof restrike dollars, as well as most of the
Class Three 1804 dollars made in the 1870s. He continued to market
patterns and restrikes throughout his career, obtaining examples
directly from the Mint, or selling specimens from Idler's
collection. In the early 20th century, he was responsible for the
first appearances of the 1884 and 1885 Trade dollars.
In time it became popular to assume that any newly discovered
numismatic phenomenon probably originated with the activities of
Haseltine or Idler in conjunction with greedy Mint officials. While
these suspicions were often well grounded, modern numismatists have
learned that clandestine deals were not the exclusive property of
these two gentlemen. Writing mainly about the contemporary scandal
of the half union patterns in the Numismatist in July 1910,
Edgar Adams hints that the nefarious parties were not Haseltine and
Idler, but someone much closer to the Mint:

"It has been generally stated, usually as a
supposition, that the unknown coins that have recently come to
light were from the Idler collection. The senior Mr. Idler, who
died some years ago, was a dealer who was supposed to have a very
considerable stock and, also, favorable opportunities at the mint.
The Idler stock passed to other hands and has been quietly
marketed. When the great unknowns were heralded, the
conclusion was jumped at that they were 'from the Idler
collection,' some explanation was necessary, and as this served
quite well, it was left to pass uncorrected. The Idler collection
had some good things, but not the good things that most
interest Uncle Sam. No, they did not come from the Idler
collection, they never were that far away from home."

Clearly, Adams knew the source of the half union patterns, and many
other hitherto unknown pieces, such as the Bickford gold eagles,
was not the infamous Idler- Haseltine dynasty, but someone even
more intimately associated with the Mint.

Woodin's Trade

One of the greatest stories in American numismatics involves the
sale and recovery of the 1877 fifty dollar half union patterns by
the Mint in the early 20th century. The fabulous trade William
Woodin supposedly transacted with Mint officials to secure their
return is almost certainly the conduit by which the gold Bickford
pattern eagles entered the numismatic marketplace. However, like
most good stories in numismatics, the details of Woodin's trade
have been deliberately obscured to protect the guilty. Only in
recent times have the full details of the transaction emerged from
the shadows.
The traditional story, as outlined in an article by Edgar Adams in
the July 1909 Numismatist, tells of Woodin purchasing the
two half unions from Haseltine for $10,000 each, a record price for
any coin at the time. The publication of this story resulted in
much public dissatisfaction, as it was generally felt the coins
were national treasures that should never have been sold to a
private individual. The government threatened legal action to
recover the coins and, after much maneuvering, a settlement was
agreed to in which Woodin returned the half unions to the Mint in
exchange for "three crates" of pattern coins, with Haseltine acting
as the middleman. William Woodin became the premier collector of
patterns in the country at one stroke. His giant pattern windfall
included specimens of many issues that were extremely rare, or even
unknown before that time. As Akers posited, the two Judd-1373s were
undoubtedly part of this treasure. However, many details of this
classic numismatic tale have proven to be false.
Even though Adams named Haseltine as the seller of the half union
patterns in his 1909 article, his own words in 1910 show that he
knew the real source was someone much closer to the Mint. Noted
pattern researcher Saul Teichman has recently uncovered the true
source of the half union patterns, and the identity of the
individual who reimbursed Woodin when the deal was reversed.
Haseltine was merely the front man acting as agent for former Chief
Coiner A. Louden Snowden. Noting a gap in the Mint's pattern
collection corresponding to Snowden's tenure there, Teichman
believes Snowden acquired many patterns during his time at the
Mint, essentially paying bullion prices for the rare pieces. As
Teichman says:

"If one looks at the Mint collection, there is a gap
with regard to coins from 1874-1877. This is probably not an
accident. I believe all of the gold patterns from the 1872
Amazonian set, the two Bickfords, the two 1875 Sailors Head sets,
the two 1876 double eagles in addition to the two 1877 half unions
come from Snowden as well as most of the 1877 half dollars and the
silver 1876 dollar patterns."

Teichman also refers to a June 7, 1910 letter from Woodin's
attorney to U.S. Attorney Henry W. Wise that establishes Snowden as
the owner of the half unions at the time of the transaction, and
explains how he came to possess them in the first place. The letter
was sold in George Kolbe's sale of the Ford Library, and has been
reprinted on the USPatterns.com website. We excerpt from the
letter:

"Col. Snowden, who had originally purchased these coins
from the Director of the Mint in Philadelphia by depositing the
bullion value and the charge for pattern pieces to save them from
being melted down, in the course of negotiations between himself
and Dr. Andrew, Director of the Mints, came to an agreement with
the latter over all matters in dispute between them, and proposed
to Mr. Woodin to repay him the $20,000 he had paid for these
pieces, in order that he might carry out his arrangement with Dr.
Andrew. Mr. Woodin after numerous visits to Philadelphia and
Washington and conference with Dr. Andrew, both there and in this
city, decided to accept this offer, returned the 50's to Col.
Snowden, and I thereupon notified Mr. Pratt, as did Mr. Woodin,
that the incident was closed."

So, as Teichman's research confirms, Snowden was the source for the
coins. Having obtained the half unions in a questionable deal
during his years of service at the Mint, he was the individual who
had to restore them to the Mint and repay Woodin for his loss. The
only means for him to do this was to hand over to Woodin all the
patterns he had acquired over the years, including the Bickford
eagle patterns in gold. Interestingly, there was even a cover story
in place to explain the absence of the half unions after Snowden
acquired them. Robert Coulton Davis was aware the gold coins
existed when he published his seminal work on patterns, but he was
told they had been melted:

"One specimen of each of these patterns was struck in
gold and placed in the coin cabinet at the Philadelphia Mint. But
afterward, as no appropriation had been made for them, they were
melted up, much to the regret of those interested in coins, for
they were the only coins of this denomination in gold that have
ever come from the United States Mint."

Of course, Snowden later claimed he purchased the patterns to
prevent them from being melted. Once the mystery of their first
appearance is solved, the further history of these remarkable
patterns is well documented (see roster below). It is interesting
to note Woodin did not display an example of Judd-1373 in the 1914
ANS Exhibition, even though their existence had first been
published in his book the previous year. Perhaps he was gun-shy
after his experience with the half unions, and did not want to
further advertise his ownership of the rare gold patterns. Another
striking circumstance is the lack of early auction appearances.
Neither specimen was offered at public auction until 1979, a full
66 years after their discovery.

The surfaces of this piece are extraordinary. The fields are deeply
mirrored, and as the insert states the devices are heavily frosted,
giving the coin a profound cameo contrast. The color is bright
yellow-gold throughout. Discerning which of the two examples this
piece is turned out to be an extraordinarily difficult task. It
came down to this: There is a tiny planchet flake just above the
end of the top ribbon on the obverse, a minute planchet mark in the
field just above the curve of that same ribbon, and on the reverse
there is a squiggly lint mark below the 2 in the value beneath
GULDEN. These are consistent with the black and white photos from
the Stack's (10/2003) Sale.
Few coins or patterns can rival the absolute rarity and
desirability of a Bickford ten dollar in gold. We are proud to be
able to offer this example for sale at public auction, and we know
the next owner will be just as proud to be the steward of this
premier rarity. (PCGS# 61677)